USD Football 1992

BLUE STEEL AND BROWN METTLE Coaching at Ohio State was real– ly a dream come true for Brown. He had been turned away as a foot– ball player during his freshman year because he was a scrawny 140 pounds. Undaunted, he transferred to Miami Uni versity in Oxford, Ohio and was the team's starting quarterback for two seasons. While teaching and coaching in high school, he returned to Ohio State during summers for graduate edu– cation work, and, on many evenings, strolled Ohio State's sideline in empty Ohio Stadium, fantasizing that he was head coach. With his dream a reality, he coached Ohio State no differently than Washington High School ... and no differently than he later coached in pro footbal, I where he revolutionized the sport. Practices lasted no longer than 90 minutes (compared to three hours under Schmidt), but everything was meticulously organized. Where Schmidt's system included hun– dreds of plays, Brown had fewer than two dozen, but they were honed to perfection. Players, who

Coach Paul Brown's revolu– tionary coaching methods took Ohio State to the top.

class sprinter on the Buckeyes track team. The backfield was comprised of Lynn; Fekete, who led the nation in rushing for much of the season; Horvath; and Sarringhaus, whose biggest prob– lem was adjusting to contact lens– es after his myopia caused him to miss open field tackles and easily defendable passes. He is believed to be the first collegiate football player ever to wear contacts dur– ing a game. Horvath, the only sophomore on Schmidt's I940 team to win a let– ter, was an on-again, off-again starter in 1941 and didn't like it. Since he was about to enter dental school, he decided to forego foot– ball in 1942, but he couldn't stay away. He and Sarringhaus battled for the tailback's job until the fi nal scrimmage when he scored three touchdowns and threw a pair of TD passes.

went both ways in those years, had to know every assignment. He even super– vised the fitting of each player's uniform after discovering that his Massillon teams were better outfitted. Playing football at Ohio State also was a lot different than today. There were no room, board and tuition athletic scholar– ships. Instead, players agreed to come to Ohio State in return for the promise of part-time jobs in Columbus firms, or other jobs around the campus during the school year and in the summer. Many players, like 1942 team captain George Lynn, lived at the "Tower Club," a dorm in Ohio Stadium that cost $15 per quarter for room and board. He worked in the dorm's kitchen, and spent two other days working in the gym for 35 cents an hour. Two of the team's other stars, backs Pau l Sarring haus and Les Horvath, worked evenings at a meat packing plant, hefting 200- and 300-pound sides of beef. Brown recharged the Buckeyes to seven wins in nine games in 1941 , stun ning heavily-favored Michigan with a 20-20 tie. "We laid the groundwork for our national championship during that 1941 season," Brown said later. The I942 team was a grand mix. Some 4 1 of its 42 players were from Ohio and 12 had brothers who had previously played for the Bucks. Eleven returning let– termen, inc luding eight starters, from among_13 juniors and three seniors, joined 26 sophomores, including eight from

Brown wanted him in the lineup but Sarringhaus, at 2 15 pounds and with a lower center of gravity, was a more pow– erful inside runner. He put the decision to Horvath. "If you played wingback, Sarringhaus can play full-time at tailback," he told him. "We then may be good enough to win the national championship." Horvath, who won the Heisman Trophy as an Ohio State tailback in I944, agreed, and this helped the Bucks to win nine of 10 games-something no one, except per– haps Brown, ever felt was possible. Before their opening game against Fort Knox, he told his team, " I don' t know how good you are. But I do know you are a lot better than most teams." They were so dominant that the fi rst– stringers rarely played more than three quarters of a game, which caused Fekete to lose the national rushing title because he was on the bench most of the second half of every game. The Buckeyes won their first five games and were ranked first in the Associated Press poll before losing 17-7 at Wisconsin, when the team was stricken with dysentery. Brown always blamed it on bad water on the railroad coaches which carried his team to Madison. The loss dropped them to No. 6, but Brown told his team, "November is the month that separates good football teams from the truly great football teams. We will have cold days in which to practice, and

The line averaged 205 pounds but was faster than many opponents' backfields.

Brown's 1940 state championship high school team. Five of those sophomores became starters: End Dante Lavelli, later · replaced by Don Steinberg after a season- ending knee injury; fullback Gene Fekete; and tackles Bill Willis and Charley Csuri. Csuri, along with guard Lindell Houston and end Bob Shaw, were All-Americans that year. "We had speed at every position, as well as players wi th exceptional lower body muscular development," noted Fekete. "As freshmen in 1941 , we spent the sea– son learning the fun damentals of PB 's offense and defense. But Paul also careful– ly tracked our c lassroom work and if someone needed help, then tutoring was made available. I believe he paid for some of them himself. He even asked players who were good students to help those who weren"t.'' The line averaged 205 pounds, but was faster than many opponents ' back– fields-Willis, at 203 pounds, was a world

TOUCHDOWN ILLUSTRATED